David Zitzerman is a partner and head of the Entertainment Law Group at Goodmans. He has exclusively practised entertainment law for over 25 years. His practice focuses on the film, television and interactive industries in Canada and the United States. His clients include independent producers, Canadian networks, Hollywood studios, US cable services, European broadcasters, film and TV distributors, publishers, game companies, talent guilds and agencies, writers and performers.

David was the Gold Medalist in arts at the University of Manitoba and has a J.D. from the University of Toronto Law School. He is recognized as a leading entertainment lawyer by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, The Lexpert/American Lawyer Media Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and The Best Lawyers in Canada and is recommended for media in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers and PLC's Which Lawyer? He was named the 2010 Toronto Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers and one of the 25 leading media lawyers in the world in 2011, 2009 and 2002 by Euromoney's The Best of the Best. He holds an AV Distinguished™ rating from Martindale-Hubbell. David joined Goodmans in 1986 and became a partner in 1990.

He is the Co-Chair of the annual Bloomberg BNA CITE Film Finance Conference in New York and Los Angeles and regularly lectures on entertainment and media law at a number of educational institutions and associations and speaks at Canadian, U.S. and international entertainment-related seminars. He is an Adjunct Professor teaching entertainment law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, a guest lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School and is a frequent commentator on entertainment industry issues for the Business News Network (BNN) and other media outlets. He has published a number of articles in entertainment law journals and is a co-writer of "Entertainment Law in Canada" published by LexisNexis.

David is a director and serves on the Executive/Finance Committee of the Canadian Film Centre, is on the Program Advisory Committee of the Ryerson School of Radio & Television Arts and the Canadian Women in Communications Digital Convergence Executive Program, is a Gold Patron of the Toronto International Film Festival and is a member of Film Ontario, the Canadian Media Production Association, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Canadian Association of Recording Artists and the Toronto International Film Festival Fundraising Committee.

Professional Affiliations

Director - Canadian Film Centre

Gold Patron - Toronto International Film Festival

Advisor - Ryerson School of Radio & Television Arts and Digital Convergence Executive Program

Canadian Bar Association (Ontario) - Media and Communications Law Section Member